Mike Whaley: Mr. Choate's track legacy is a 'Rich' one

Saturday

Aug 11, 2012 at 3:15 AM

If you had to put a face to the Rochester Middle School track and field program, look no further than Rich Choate.

Choate is going into his 25th year as a teacher in Rochester. At age 57, he is relinquishing his position as head coach of the RMS track and field team. He has coached either the middle school or Saint Elizabeth Seton teams for the past 24 years.

"I have some other interests and I wanted to step away while I was still active in the school system to help the transition," said Choate, who teaches eighth-grade science. "The Spaulding High School transition hasn't been very good since John (Doria) left and I don't want to see something happen with the middle school program."

He plans to stay around and help out with both the RMS and high school teams, continue as a certified track and field official working meets, and helping with the Hershey track and field program. Choate and Norm Sanborn will continue to coach the middle school cross country team.

Choate grew up in Medway, Mass., competing with the track and field, and football teams for four years. He attended the University of New Hampshire, earning a bachelor's degree in wildlife management, and getting his masters in resource management and administration from Antioch College in Keene.

He taught and coached track in Dover for three years, coming to Rochester in 1988 when he was hired by then principal Paul Asbell.

"I wasn't particularly looking forward to what I was going to be doing at Dover High School," Choate said. "I talked to Paul and he said there were long-range plans to turn the junior high into a middle school. That intrigued me. I followed things through and he hired me."

Choate met Doria, who coached football and track at Spaulding for almost 30 years, and they agreed Choate would coach the junior high team, but also help out with the high school as a throwing coach.

In those early days, the junior high/middle school league was in its infancy, he coached with the high school team after school and then once that practice was done, the junior high kids would show up for their practice.

It wasn't long after that the middle school coaching position became budgeted and Choate was then able to run practices directly after school. The convenience of the time allowed Choate to build the team's numbers up.

The program grew and there was a steady pipeline of athletes from the middle school to the high school.

"I would like it to continue to provide a program for kids to learn about track," Choate said. "If they enjoy it they can continue with track. The goal is, if you show up, you get to participate in a track meet. ¿ I like the fact that anyone can be a participant. You've got kids who can't run distance, but you convince them they can do a dash. And you've got kids who aren't fast, so you tell them to try one of the middle distances or become a thrower.

"I've kind of shifted my philosophy," Choate added. "OK, I'm making you do a field event you don't want to do, let's focus on your running events."

Doria left in 2005 to teach and coach in Florida. Choate applied for the high school position, but he didn't get it.

"It was a series of miscommunications," he said. "It left a nasty taste in my mouth where I actually didn't coach the middle school program here. I coached for three years at Saint Elizabeth Seton."

Since Doria left, the high school program has lacked coaching stability with at least three different head coaches rotating in over the last seven years. Choate is making sure that doesn't happen at the middle school. He said the program now has two paid positions and for the past five years, Choate, Sanborn and Katie Taylor have split the two coaching stipends three ways. None of the three will return for the paid positions, but all plan to help out.

"He's a very down-to-earth guy," said Doria, who lives outside of Daytona Beach. "He's always been willing to do extra to help out, especially with the athletes and the kids at school.

One of the ongoing struggles at the middle school level is trying to get sixth graders to come out and stay with the program for three years. But those athletes are few and far between. Instead, Choate sees more first-time eighth-graders coming on board. He said he ended the season with a dozen sixth graders, and of his team of 80, only four athletes (all girls) were with the program for all three years.

"Part of it has to do with middle-school psychology," Choate said. "They don't want to fail. But when you're in eighth grade there's less chance of failing. Part of that has to do with kids in our society, they want instant success. How many sixth-graders are going to be the top gun in a track meet when you're competing against seventh-and eighth-graders? You've got to put your time in. We're not willing to put our time in to build that betterment. We want it now and a lot of these kids take that attitude."

The cycle, of course, starts all over again in high school as the eighth-graders, now freshmen, are the low kids on the totem pole.

In recent years, Choate and, indeed, the middle school league, has tried to hold meets for the younger kids. There is an invitational meet that kids who did not qualify for the championship meet can compete in. For the first time this past year, there was a fifth- and sixth-grade meet.

"I'm finding as I'm entering my 25th year of teaching, that I'm teaching kids of kids I taught and coaching kids of kids I coached," he said. "I have fun with it."

Choate has had fun. Period. He believes track and field can do that for you, no matter who you are.

"I tell the kids: As long as you come to practice and you participate in practice, you are in a track meet," he said. "Not many sports can say that."

Mike Whaley is the sports editor for Foster's Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.